I hope this update finds everyone in good spirits as we head into the new week. Below is a brief recap of my Campus and Community Engagement activities from the previous week.

Campus Engagement

• Attended the public candidate forums for the Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Instruction and Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services. At these forums, the campus community had the opportunity to meet the candidates, learn about their qualifications, and ask questions.
• Attended the National First-Generation Student Day celebration. Despite the rain, it was well attended by students and campus community members. A note of gratitude to all who helped put this event together including Palomar Promise, Palomar Upward Bound, TRiO Student Support Services, and EOPS.
• Attended the Pride Center’s Coffee with a Cop event. At this event, participants had the opportunity to discuss LGBTQIA+ issues with Chief Chris Moore and other police officers. It’s always great to see our Palomar College Police department relationship building with our campus community.
• Attended the Associated Student Government’s Comet Hour.
• Met with Faculty Senate leadership for our monthly one on one meeting.
• Met with PFF leadership for our monthly one on one meeting.
• Attended the Budget Committee meeting where we discussed critical fiscal issues for our college.
• Attended, and provided welcoming remarks, for the Veterans Resource Center’s A Salute to Our Veterans event. This was an incredible event! The Veterans Resource Center did an outstanding job honoring our Veterans and celebrating the Marine Corps 247^th birthday. A special thank you to Supervisor, Jessica Horn, and everyone who help put this outstanding event together.
• Attended the Educational & Facilities Vision Plan Coordinators meeting to discuss the ongoing development of our plan.

Community Engagement

• Attended the San Diego & Imperial Counties Community Colleges Association’s (SDICCCA) monthly board meeting. Chief Executive Officers, Public Information Officers, and Governing Board Members discussed current issues facing the region, provided updates on their respective colleges, reviewed legislative updates, and engaged in collective planning for the 2022-2023 academic year.
• Please note, elections for three of our Palomar Governing Board seats (Areas 1, 4, and 5) took place on Tuesday, November 8^th. Once official election results are available, I will share more information with our campus community.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Updates and News

• Two years ago, professors Luis Guerrero and Hossna Sadat Ahadi co-authored the Academic Senate for California Community College’s rostrum article titled, Decolonizing Your Syllabus, an Antiracist Guide for Your College, which has become a nationally recommended article. They have been invited to colleges and universities across the U.S. to share their insight and praxis work as it relates to decolonizing curriculum and pedagogy. On Friday, November 4^th both professors Guerrero and Sadat Ahadi were invited to share their work with faculty in the California Community Colleges’ Open for Antiracism program. Additionally, Professor Guerrero has hosted three antiracism workshops on our campus. Plus, during the summer of 2021, he had a cohort of 40+ faculty go through an enhanced workgroup and created a repository of their final work, the Decolonized Syllabi Repository. This project was funded by Guided Pathways. Thank you, Professors Luis and Hossna for your fantastic work in this area!
• The World Languages Department will be hosting Café International on Tuesday, November 15^th from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. This is a free ASG-sponsored event, open to all students and employees to celebrate the language programs we offer. Games, food, and music will be part of the celebration. Here is a link to the flyer.
• This year, the Tarde de Familia event will take place on Friday, December 2^nd from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm in the Student Union. Please mark your calendars and spread the word by sharing this flyer. If your department, or program, would like to participate in the Information Fair, please visit TDF Information Fair.xlsx and sign up before November 28^th. The Information Fair will be from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. For any questions, or for more information, on Tarde de Familia please visit the Association of Latinos and Allies for Student Success (ALASS) website or contact alass@palomar.edu. Thank you for your ongoing support of Tarde de Familia. We hope to see you there!

Educational and Facilities Vision Plan Update
This past Thursday, members of the Educational and Facilities Vision Plan (EFVP) Task Force met to further discuss student data. The data reviewed included student enrollment, student demographics, student progress, and student outcomes. This upcoming week the EFVP Task Force will meet again to discuss the makeup of Palomar’s service area and labor market forecast.

If you haven’t done so, please complete the Vision 2035 survey. To respond to the survey, click on the link that was embedded in the email from Palomar College Research on November 10^th. The survey closes on November 17^th, 2022.

Comet of the Week
The Comet of the Week is Karen Mifflin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics. Karen goes above and beyond for her students. Every week she spends several hours in her office tutoring students. She is invested in her students being successful. Colleagues describe her as kind, patient, and extremely supportive. Thank you, Professor Karen, for making such a difference in the lives of students.

Have a great upcoming week. Go Comets!

For pictures of the various events, follow:
Twitter: @palomardrstar
Instagram: @palomardrstar